Air China flight to Beijing still cancelled

By Raoul Esperas

MANILA - For the second day, the commercial flight of Air China to Beijing remained cancelled.

Air China flight CA 180 was first cancelled on Thursday morning reportedly due to a technical problem.

The airline on Friday again cancelled the flight, which was supposed to depart at 6:30 a.m. It cited aircraft situation as the reason, according to information released by the media affairs division of the Manila International Airport Authority.

At around 12:30 p.m., the airline started transporting the affected passengers from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to a hotel along Roxas Boulevard.

Gerald Bautista, supervisor of the airport's operations division, however said they were not aware of Air China's flight cancellation today until the media affairs division was informed by airport reporters about the transfer of the passengers.

Air China's Friday flight has a total 165 passengers.

The Thursday flight, meanwhile, has 134 passengers. They are scheduled to depart 10 p.m. Friday. This equates to a 39-hour delay.

Air China did not elaborate to airport authority the reason behind today's flight cancellation.